Tufting machines are widely used for manufacturing tufted pile fabrics, such as carpeting. Tufting machines have a plurality of yarn carrying needles. During a tufting operation, the portions of the needles carrying the yarns pass though a heavy fabric backing to form loops of yarn below the fabric. Loopers or hooks that are located below the fabric are oscillated to capture the loops of yarn so that when the needles are withdrawn from the fabric, the loop is held below the fabric to form loop pile tufts. Additionally, the tufting machines can include knives for cutting loops of yarns to form cut pile tufts, and gates that can be extended to control whether the loops of yarn are cut by the knives.
Conventional level cut loop type tufting machines also can have hundreds of clips that are moveable into engagement with the hooks/loopers to control formation of loop and cut pile tufts in the backing, each of the clips generally being located below and/or behind one of the hooks. After the yarn is released from the hook or cut by a knife, the fabric can be advanced so that the yarn carrying needles can create the next set of loops in the backing. As a result, the tufting machine can selectively generate both loop and cut pile tufts in the backing material.
Such tufting machines also generally have gates that are coupled to the clips. Pneumatic cylinders are coupled to the gates and are selectively actuated to move both the gates and the clips. The reaction time required for the cylinders to actuate and move the gates typically can limit the speed of operation of the tufting machine. Further, due to the constant actuation/de-actuation of the pneumatic cylinders during the tufting process, the gates and the clips are particularly vulnerable to wear, fatigue, and malfunctions. As a result, when the apparatus malfunctions, the tufting process typically must be stopped for repair. For example, the gates and the clip may become uncoupled resulting in malfunctioning of the gate or clip. If the gate malfunctions, such as by not properly extending, the loop will not be released from the hook, resulting in the production of a flawed tufted product.